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letting lo cry themselves to sleep ?

hey ladies im hoping you guys will be able to help me , my lo is 7 weeks and we want to start putting him in his cot after his 7 bottle but everytime we try he crys his little heart out - what shall i do shall i leave him to cry himself to sleep or is he too little and should i have him in the lounge with us still ? Xx

Replies

  • He's too small chick I would just cuddle him, if and when you decide or need to leave him cry he needs to be 6 months and when the time comes if donw right doesn;t take that long xx good luck xx
  • Don't let him cry his heart out, I know some people do but I'm strongly against this.

    When my LO was that age I just had him in his basket in the lounge with us, then took him up to bed when we went.

    A lot of the books say that if you let them cry it out it only has a temporary effect, and if they are ill or away from home or teething or whatever, you have to let them cry it out again. Also by doing this it can massively damage their trust in you as they feel abandoned. (Advice from Baby Whisperer and No Cry Sleep Solution)

    Tbh I would just cuddle up on the sofa with him after his feed and pop him in his cot when he is properly asleep. They grow up so quickly and don't want to snuggle up before long, so treasure those days and get as many cuddles in as you can!
  • Oh no, please don't let him cry, he needs to know that his mummy is there to look after him, comfort him and generally needs you. Babies don't realise they are individuals until they reach 7-8 months. He's definitely too young for letting him crying out IMO and I believe you'd be causing yourself many more problems letting him do this at such a young age.

    Imagine how you would feel, having been kept warm/safe for 9 months, transplanted into a strange world and 7 weeks later be abandoned. Babies have no concept of time so every time you leave him, he thinks you have gone forever.

    Routine and sleeping will come soon enough. For now, be there with him, you could still put him in his cot but stay with him, hug him, sing to him, anything just to reassure him that you are close by.

    Sorry if I've been too harsh but I can't bear the thought of a young baby crying out xx
  • thanks girls - its what i wanted to hear but wanted to check !! Xx
  • not as such

    we started putting LO to bed at 8 weeks at 7pm, he would wine a little and we would just go straight back in either put his dummy in or give him a cudde each time, it took us about 3 weeks, after a few evenings we managed to get downstairs before he started to cry and after 3 weeks he would settle himself, we didnt let him cry for anymore than a few seconds but felt it was important that he knew bedtime was upstairs as he was not sleeping whislt downstairs with us,

    HTH a little
  • thanks piggypops ill try that - want him to know bed is at 7 but cant bear the thought of him crying xx
  • Hi there,

    As the others say at this age I wouldn't leave LO to cry (don't really now TBH at 9months!)

    But I agree with you wanting to try and get bed routine, which we started to do at this age too. But what we did was, bath, bottle then I just sat with him on the sofa cuddling/rocking untill he dropped off, which was sometimes on the bottle, sometimes after 1/2 an hr, I'd then take him upstairs and put him in crib.

    We then moved last bottle into being in his bedroom not long before he went into his own room at about 5months.This seemed to work for us and LO, and hasn't affected his ability to fall asleep.

    Good luck and I hope the ideas help xxx
  • we had a similiar situation when lo was tiny (maybe 6 or 7 weeks old), my OH worked away and one night i was completely exhausted, i had put LO to bed and he was happily watching a light show in his crib, i went downstairs and started making a cup of tea, after a few minutes he started crying-it wasnt hysterical crying and not constant...i looked at the clock on the cooker and decided if he was still crying in 2 minutes then i would go upstairs and bring him down with me...after a minute he stopped and when i went up to him he was fast asleep! from that day he has always self settled...even now at 8months he still sometimes 'whines and winges himself to sleep'
    this was by no means controlled crying but i think sometimes we jump too quickley and obviously all my LO needed was the opportunity to teach himself to go to sleep! go with your instincts, if the crying is constant and intense then i would take action to stop but if its more whining then maybe wait a few minutes and see what happens!

    Good Luck!
  • good luck, hope it works x
  • thanks for your help girls - i put him in his cot last night and waited outside the door - as soon as he cried i went in and re assured him mummy was still here then went back out when he was calm - bless him within 15mins he was in the land of nod til we woke him for his feed ! Fab xx
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